JBER C-17 brings Typhoon Haiyan survivors out of disaster area

  • Published
  • By Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Wolf
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  The loading ramp at the back of a C-17 Globemaster III began to lower at Tacloban, Philippines. Behind it 100 people stood in line looking worn from the destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan, but with smiles on their faces. They slowly began to pile into the back of the aircraft saying "thank you" as they passed the loadmaster who directed them to their seats. After the first 100 were seated and strapped in, there was room for more, so the crew called for another 100 people to board. This process repeated until the C-17 was full and there was no more room. The ramp closed and the loadmasters ensured everyone was secure as the engines fired up and the C-17 began to move.

Humanitarian Airlift is a major asset the Air Force has used throughout its history; even before it became the U.S. Air Force and was still part of the U.S. Army. From dropping food to starving French citizens during World War II to Operation Provide Hope, when airlift provided 6,000 tons of food, medicine and other support items to republics of the former Soviet Union. It is no surprise then, that when Typhoon Haiyan passed over the Philippines and destroyed towns and villages, the Air Force would lend its airlift capability to assist.
And the Airmen of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and their C-17 were honored to be a part of that effort.

A group of active duty and Alaska Air National Guard members flew a C-17 from JB Elmendorf-Richardson to Kadena Air Base, Japan, to prepare for and begin their aid to Operation Damayan. Their mission began by bringing in a forklift to offload pallets of supplies at a Tacloban airport which had been hit hard by the storm.
Their mission quickly changed.

"Flexibility is the most important thing to us," said Air Force Maj. Matt Petersen, 3rd Wing Operational Support Squadron C-17 instructor pilot.
Peterson said the mission would change several times; it would switch from transporting a water purification system, to vehicles, then to food.
Then they got a call for a mission they hadn't expected to do.

"We were on the ground in Tacloban and they (Marines) asked us to take [displaced people] back," Petersen said.
Peterson then checked with his chain of command and received the green light.

"We got 400 to 500 people on board and got them out of there that night," Petersen said. "We are there to help assist so we will do whatever we can."
They began boarding people by taking in 100 at a time.

"With an emergency airlift, everything changes with our normal operations," said Senior Airman Brett Laichak, Alaska Air National Guard, 249th Airlift Squadron C-17 loadmaster. "We had to set aside our normal procedures and accommodate what the new mission required, to get as many people out of there as safely as we could. My crew was able to get 489 people out in one flight, which is a lot; civilian 747s carry that many people and they are about twice the size of our C-17s."

Everyone sat in rows on the floor of the plane. They were strapped in with cargo straps to keep them safe. Laichak helped load 489 people - 40 rows of people - into the belly of the plane.

The storm destroyed anything that would aid the C-17's instruments with landing, so they had to adjust those procedures.

"We set up our own navigation approach to make it there," said Air National Guard Maj. Scott Altenburg, 249th Airlift Squadron C-17 pilot. "It was raining and was a tough night, but we had a good full moon and our night-vision goggles available; that allowed us to see the runway even in low light and land in the middle of the night."

During Alaskan winters, nights are long and C-17 pilots take advantage of the low-light to train with their night-vision goggles. Altenburg said it was this training that helped him while he was flying at night over the Philippines.

Things don't always go perfectly, but with proper training and equipment, they had what they needed to complete their ever-changing mission.

"We were ready to fly people out, but we had a maintenance issue with one of the engines," said Air Force Staff Sgt. David Arnold, 703rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron flying crew chief. "I was able to fix it on the spot, but if there wasn't an aircraft mechanic on the airplane, we would have had to wait a day or two to bring someone in from another Air Force base. There were a few other instances where we had maintenance issues and we were able get them taken care of and keep going. After we got the engine fixed, we were able to transport over 300 more people.

In spite of maintenance issues and long hours, everyone from JBER agreed they were happy to help be a part of the operation and do their part to help the people of the Philippines.
The C-17 made a final approach and a loadmaster made an announcement over the public address system. "Welcome to Manila," the loadmaster said to cheers and raised hands with excitement coursing through the passengers. They had made it out of the ravaged city of Tacloban and to aid waiting in Manila.

For the crew this may have been an interesting story to tell their grandchildren, but for the people stranded in Tacloban, with little food and water, this was likely the flight of their lives.